Middlesbrough vs Birmingham City; Sky Bet Championship
Middlesbrough vs Birmingham City. Sky Bet Championship.
Riverside StadiumAttendance22,848.
M'boro v Birmingham preview
Wednesday 22 November 2017 08:48, UK
Middlesbrough welcome back defender Cyrus Christie for the visit of Birmingham on Wednesday evening.
The Republic of Ireland international missed Sunday's 2-1 defeat at Leeds as he served a one-game ban after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season.
Christie is set to come straight back in at right-back while Fabio da Silva is pushing to return at left-back. Striker Rudy Gestede is building up his fitness after a thigh injury and could make the bench.
Birmingham have doubts over midfielders Craig Gardner and Stephen Gleeson. Gardner missed the 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday with a calf injury.
Gleeson came off at half-time with a slight thigh problem which boss Steve Cotterill is concerned he may aggravate. Maxime Colin, Isaac Vassell, David Stockdale and Carl Jenkinson remain sidelined.
Opta stats
Middlesbrough have lost one of their last 17 home matches against Birmingham in all competitions (W10 D6).
The Blues have scored only three goals in their last seven away league matches against Middlesbrough (W1 D1 L5).
Middlesbrough haven't lost a home league game on Wednesday outside of the top-flight since May 1990, winning eight and drawing seven since.
Birmingham have netted just three away goals in the Championship so far this season - only Burton Albion have scored fewer away goals in the division (2).
Britt Assombalonga has scored more headed goals (4) than any other player in the division this season.
Prutton's prediction
Garry Monk would have wanted a far better performance from his side against Leeds on Sunday, and he'll want to forget that result very quickly.
Birmingham finally got another win under Steve Cotterill after only picking up a point from four games before then, but I can't see them getting anything from the Riverside.
Prutton predicts: 2-0 (11/2 with Sky Bet)
